Though the 10th parliament witnessed a decreasing trend in the 10th Parliament, "Quorum crisis" is still a concern. The estimated cost of quorum crisis during the first session was BDT 8.1 million public money. Only 1.8 percent of total session was spent on formulation of laws - the key role of the parliament. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) revealed these in its ‘Parliament Watch’ report that was released before the media on July 7 at Brac Center Inn in Dhaka. The study also made 18 recommendations including opposition’s visible role in making the parliament more effective.
Juliet Rosette, Programme Manger and Morsheda Akther, Deputy Programme Manager, Research and Policy, TIB presented findings of the study. Advocate Sultana Kamal, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees; Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director; Dr Sumaiya Khair, Deputy Executive Director and Mohammad Rafique Hasan, Director of Research and Policy, TIB were also present during the release.
According to the study overall attendance rate of Members of the Parliament (MPs) was 64 percent while the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition were present respectively in 89 percent (32 days) and 39 per cent (14 Days) sessions. Highlighting positive features of the first session, the study revealed that the main Opposition had not boycotted any session, but did not also raise voice on any issues of public interests like irregularities in public sector recruitment, board question paper leak scandal,
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